Four PSU Trustees Appeal Sanctions

Even though NCAA spokesman Bob Williams declared last week that the Penn State sanctions are not subject to appeal, four trustees, led by retired Navy SEAL Ryan J. McCombie, who was elected to the board in June have filed a letter of appeal with the NCAA. ESPN is reporting:

Trustees and a person with first-hand knowledge of the discussions said the move is a precursor to a federal lawsuit asking a judge to invalidate the sanctions, because trustees expect the NCAA to reject the appeal.

Essentially, McCombie is saying that the NCAA did not follow its usual investigation and enforcement procedures with Penn State, that the consent decree is unfair because it relies on the Freeh report (which contains some disputed unproven conjectures) and that the sanctions are “excessive and unreasonable”, inflicting “permanent damage to an entire generation of student athletes and coaches who were innocent of any wrongdoing during their time on campus…”

McCombie retained the Boston law firm of Jackson Lewis to file the appeal. He wrote a letter to trustees Monday afternoon asking for their concurrence. Three immediately hopped on board. There was no comment as to whom, but I think we can probably guess at least three of them pretty quickly.

McCombie wrote to the trustees that it was his belief that the matter required board approval and that the board should engage in a full and complete review. He went on to write, “Furthermore, only after we have given all involved the opportunity to be heard can we move forward together as one university.”

No comments were to be had from either Penn State or the NCAA.

Well, this should drive a wedge into the board. These are interesting times. If the NCAA does shut down the appeal, which is I think about 105% likely, and the federal courts get involved, the case could broaden and get into all kinds of great anti-trust issues with the NCAA. They deserve to be slapped down by somebody, and who better than a Federal court to do it? Maybe pay liquidated damages to all the members and then reorganize into a helpful adjunct, rather than a dictatorial Kindergarten teacher.

I’m going to have my cookies and milk and think about this a little more.

One of the big issues with the Fine case at Syracuse has always been that Davis could be lying. With only one “victim”, the whole thing relies on his veracity, which is suspect. Nevertheless, I’m not saying that the NCAA needed to turn its back on Syracuse.

It’s not hard to determine why the NCAA would not allow itself to see the parallels and go after SU basketball like it did PSU football. How many huge sanctions have ever been exacted upon basketball powers? We all know why football is almost inevitably the target of NCAA’s strictest sanctions: March Madness, from which the NCAA earns over three-quarters of a billion bucks for TV rights, which constitutes about 80% of its budget. So, it’s not blind hypocrisy or vindictiveness, necessarily; it’s pre-meditated and pecuniary in nature. As always, FOLLOW THE MONEY.

Your comment didn’t post because it had multiple links, which WordPress regards as potential SPAM. I’ll see if I can fix that for frequent commenters such as you.

I guess you also don’t want to do anything just yet if you’re the NCAA or ESPN while Boeheim is serving as an assistant coach for the US Men’s Olympic basketball team! I’m sure we’ll be seeing some pronouncement after the flame is extinguished in London (tongue is pressed firmly in cheek while typing that statement).

I think Boeheim is likely to be forced to resign by the Syracuse administration. I don’t doubt that pressure will come from ESPN, but I’m thinking that the NCAA won’t get their hands dirty here for reasons I mentioned above.

Doesn’t sound like this suit is really serious unless McCombie is willing to go forward without BOT approval.

There’s no way the board as a whole will agree to pursue an NCAA review, let alone a Federal lawsuit. Maybe this is a ploy to force a public vote so that the alumni can identify the trustees to try to remove.

I would like to see it go forward in spite of the majority opinion of the board.

But who would the appellants be if not the board? McCombie and the alumni on behalf of the university? That doesn’t seem plausible. Unless the board suddenly turns favorable on filing suit, it’s back to the same problem as with the consent decree, the crux of the matter against PSU, that only a small subset of directors are on board.

I’ve thought through this after hearing the news of the appeal and part of me says time to get over it, nothing will change, accept the medicine and move on and the other side of me says no way should we take this crap; if the BoT/administration is going to turtle-up, then I’m glad we have some representation that’s saying “Not so fast my friend!”.

So here are some of my random thoughts.

I’ve exchanged a few emails with Lubrano and he’s as serious as a heart attack about going after the NCAA, but again do they really think they have a prayer?

If you count in the Paterno’s attorney, Wick Sollers, they have some pretty significant legal firepower and McCombie’s attorneys have some pretty hefty experience in dealing with the NCAA, but it’s a sure bet that their appeal will be denied just as the Paterno appeal was shot down.

So if they go the Federal Court route and get an injunction (which I’m sure the NCAA would attempt to overturn if they’re successful) what then?

– Sanctions placed on hold?
-Players forced to return? Doubtful.
-A print and digital media implosion with a subsequent crash of the internet? They would not be able to write vile stuff fast enough!
-A public power struggle among the BoT? Nothing like a good cat fight!
-Or as Big Al stated is this just a publicity stunt to set up a “whose with us, whose against us” for future BoT elections/leadership?
-Would a federal court even hear the case? That could take months if not years before it gets in front of a judge if they agreed to hear the case!
-Does the NCAA do an about face and agree to do their own investigation while placing everything on hold? Do they agree to wait until the Curley/Schultz trials are done before imposing sanctions? Seems like that would be too big a punch to the groin for the NCAA to agree to do!

Lawyers, especially the caliber they’ve retained are not cheap. I know Lubrano has money and we all know what the Paterno retirement payout was, but I’ve got to believe there are some alums in the shadows who are supporting McCombie’s appeal through their wallets. There are many in the million(s) dollar donation club who have always been big Paterno fans and have an abject distaste for how Erickson and the BoT mis-handled this whole mess. Money will not be an object to pay for this effort.

Again though, I think O’Brien and the football team are caught in the middle. He and they have my sympathy in all of this as I think it will get to be impossible over the next several months to try and play football with all of the distractions that will be around for the foreseeable future.

Just think, if there would have been some rational thought on how to handle this on that night in November we would not be in the current shit storm we’re in!

I could think about that, but I don’t cry over spilt milk. In the sportswriters’ vernacular, it is what it is.

What I’m thinking is that enough of these individual actions filed in Federal courts might get the DOJ interested in investigating and potentially prosecuting the NCAA. Do you think that is far fetched?

Hmmh! Well they went after Clemons et al (and made a mess of it), but I’m not sure Holder and the DOJ would be interested in pursuing the NCAA as our POTUS has already stated he supports the penalties.

No I think the NCAA will be backed in a corner with the request for appeals coming from multiple fronts and considering the legal fire power behind it, I think this will go to court.

I’m beginning to see a slight change in the wind direction in the media. Here’s an example:

-He can get on to his high horse and say okay, the NCAA will do it’s own investigation, but how does he wipe the egg off of his face with that turnabout? He would essentially be admitting that he acted without sufficient information in the first place!

-He can come up with some screwy reason and reduce the current sanctions, but again he would get eaten alive by the media for acting on pure emotion initially and we all know this is about the image of the NCAA doing what’s right and just in their eyes.

No, he’ll continue to reject the various requests for appeals and hope this doesn’t make it to the federal court system.

If it does, and I think it will, and the courts rule against him, he can then say that he tried but he was overruled, which would as Big Al stated cause the NCAA to clean up their act and “codify their FUTURE powers and roles”.

This is like having box seats for Ringling Brothers, Cirque de Soleil and an imminent head on train wreck all happening at the same time.

Yeah, it’s bound to be entertaining, although I find it more of a chess tournament than a circus atmosphere.

I’m still hoping for the DOJ thing. Even though POTUS regurgitated some convivialities in support of the NCAA, he’s been known to flip-flop when the political wind changes. If this thing gathers momentum and a few other universities get their own suits going, he might flop over to the other side. The Penn State side.

It’s a longshot, I know. Your scenarios are much more likely possibilities. But, hell, it would be sooooooo entertaining to see Holder going after Emmert.

Think the objective of the lawsuit will be get the NCAA to codify their FUTURE powers and roles regarding off the field criminal misconduct by persons associated with the athletics department. Do they even a have a role, and, if so, must they offer due process before assessing penalties.

The risk to the NCAA is that (1) discovery reveals some really embarrising things about the way the penalties were decided (eg Emmert really did bone Triponey in the past and used her input to determine the penalties) and/or (2)they overreact and try to increase Penn State’s penalty. Either way they lose the public relations war, and they might piss off enough presidents of other BCS schools to the point where they start to consider leaving the NCAA forming their own governance structure.

That threat might convince the NCAA to lower the penalties, but I doubt it. Sometimes you just have to do the right thing, and challenging the NCAA’s capricious use of its power is the right thing. Atter all, if you allow somebody to screw you over once, it only encourages them to screw you over a second time.

Big Al,
When I read the example you provided for your first point, I nearly rolled out of my chair!!! I’ll spare you the details of the description that came to mind, but in short it had to do with an old fashioned school marm disciplining her naughty student! Yikes.

J A Adande, a sportswriter for ESPN actually used his one minute segment at the end of “Around the Horn” today to commend McCombie and the other trustees for going after the NCAA citing the non-legal information gathering used by the Freeh investigators, the subjective conclusions of the report, the lack of due process and the severity of the sanctions. He closed by saying in effect “Before you go criticizing the individuals filing the appeal, think about what you would want done if this was your school.”

As a frequent provider of harsh words for Penn State and Paterno over the last several months, I was shocked by his statement (I think the other panelists were equally shocked).

I’m all for it. I happen to like Adande, although he gets on my nerves at times.

I think there is a plan afoot, especially since both the rogue trustees and the ex-players are using the same high priced Boston law firm to file their appeals. I’m picturing Denny Crane handing out his card while dropping his pants. But seriously, though, I’d love to see something that flies in the face of the NCAA, something against which they would have to mount a significantly costly defense, and something that would demonstrate that member schools won’t just roll over and play dead when penalties are meted out.

—TNT

Loading...

Trackbacks

[…] controversy introduced by several dissenting board members who have challenged the sanctions and written an appeal directly to the NCAA through their high priced counsel. The dissenters allege that the NCAA should have conducted a […]

Friends' Blogs

Whodat Turkey?

The Nittany Turkey is a retired techno-geek who thinks he knows something about Penn State football and everything else in the world. If there's a topic, we have an opinion on it, and you know what "they" say about opinions! Most of what is posted here involves a heavy dose of hip-shooting conjecture, but unlike some other blogs, we don't represent it as fact. Read More…